01. Mountain Of Souls02. Dichotomy03. Artificial Immortality04. Self Existent05. St. Anne's Lullaby06. Ransom07. Evil Unseen08. How Great Thou Art09. Deep Heaven10. End Of The Age

Every so often an album comes about that just happens to be a nice surprise. For me, that album was Dichotomy. Without a doubt one of the best releases of 2008 and severely overlooked by the Metal community. But let me backtrack just a tad bit...

Becoming The Archetype, one of the more interesting bands to emerge within the past few years, has begun to prove themselves as musical force to be reckoned with. A combination of Death Metal, Metalcore and old school Progressive Metal, their genre is somewhat of an enigma. As a huge fan of Progressive Metal these guys were right up my alley with their skills. What made them even more enthralling for me was the fact that they're all Christians and not afraid to let everyone know that.

After two excellent releases we have arrived at their latest endeavor, and it is a good one. The first major aspect to the record is that of the producer; Devin Townsend! In addition to producing the record Devin also contributes vocals to the opening track, "Mountain of Souls," which then transcends into the title track with guest vocals from bands long time friend and Demon Hunter front man, Ryan Clark. With "Dichotomy" the power of this band is very evident through the opening a capella guttural screams leading into a galloping guitar riff and semi-spacey keyboard melody that acts more like the chorus than a lead transcending into a short ballad moment with some nice vocal harmonies building back to the hammering ending. Yeah, that is just one song and I bet Dream Theater would be proud of.

"Artificial Immortality" kicks the central theme of this album into full throttle. Looking at the faults of "modern" humanistic thinking which have abandoned our spiritual nature for that of technology feels like it is ripped from a Sci-Fi social commentary storyline. Honestly I feel like going Sarah Connor on some corporations after screaming out the "I AM A BEAST!" From there we jump into a powerhouse song with some tasteful double bass drumming and and well constructed riffs recounting the Resurrection, plus it has some interesting piano work reminding me of Schroeder.

From out of nowhere we find ourselves with the aptly titled "St Anne's Lullaby" soothing us down just into to leap into "Ransom," which is a decent song but nothing really noteworthy. Same could be said for the next song "Evil Unseen" except for the haunting keyboard use. But hey that is alright because the next song is truly amazing. Bassist/Vocalist, Jason Wisdom, rewrote the music for the classic hymn "How Great Thou Art" into a tour de force song proclaiming the awesomeness of God. This is not your grandmothers old church rendition, but a sonic assault with shredding guitars, some jazzy riffs, pounding drums and brutal vocals.

Heavy Devy's influence is most felt on "Deep Heaven" a song about ones spirit leaving earth and entering into eternity with God. Some interesting synth work, a soprano vocal section and a pretty kickass piano solo are sandwiched between classic brutality. Rounding out the album is the epic Ayreon feeling"End of Ages" which it's strongest point is it unabashed lyrics praising the might and glory of God.

When working on the recording of this album Devin Townsend pushed the four guys of Becoming The Archetype to bring their lyrics to the forefront of their songs since they were already a skilled group of musicians. The Spiritual Relevancy of this album is a highlight for me, but for the rest of you, just sit back and enjoy an amazing release that seemed to have flown under the radar.

This is okay. I was intrigued by the cover art and since it was labeled as PROGRESSIVE metalcore i decided to give it a try. Some passages are neat, the music is well written but i don't like the vocals and some of the guitar leads are a bit to cheesy for my taste. Overall though, it's more enjoyable than your average 'core band.